Who Stole the Scooters?

Twas another full day in the life and times of myself and my kids. Last night I was dead so I finished my post and went right to bed. It was around 11 which is quite an early night for me. It is 11:05 right now as I am getting started on this post - just a note for comparative purposes. Anyway, I didn't get my running in last night so I got up and ran this morning. I took in the 7th Harry Potter movie over my last two runs and finished that this morning. It was good. Have to say it followed the book closer then any other movie in the series and I appreciated that. Well, we were up and on the move but didn't seem to get very far. I ended up going in to work sometime around 11:30. Jack came with me while Natty and Andy went over to their cousins house. As Natty was preparing to leave she noticed that both her and Jacks scooters were gone. Somebody swiped those things right off the front of the house and that is quite sad especially since I cannot replace them right now.

When something ends up gone like that it can be easy to get upset with the person who would do such a thing. It tends to make you a bit mashuganoff. Anyhow I used the line "I guess they needed it more than we did". I wasn't trying to excuse the behavior rather I was trying to diffuse the anger of my kids. As Jack and I rolled into The Little Brick House we shared the news with Grandma and Jack used that same exact line. He did so in a manner that was exactly what I was hoping for. Perfect. He also found humor in the fact that he and Natty would borrow Andy's scooter to ride to school - together. I was happy that this negative situation was made a positive.

We were back working on the floor and trying to get a good enough look on that carpet glue so that we could simply finish off that floor with a stain and seal it and be done. After 6 or 7 hours of sanding the floor we have called it good. It isn't perfect but it is going to do. I had Jack helping me change out the discs of sand paper. Shame I didn't catch a pic with my helper. He had a great day cruising around with Grandpa and helping on the project. Special thanks to padre for making it a fun outing with Jack.

Natty Sue went shopping for shoes with Aunt Sara. She ended up with a pair of casual shoes that she really likes and then she has a nice pair of shoes for church as well. I think she had a great time with her Aunt who gave her some special attention. Sara, much thanks. Not just for today with Natty but for all the help with the kids recently and since we have been here. You and Jay have been such a help and I appreciate it very much. Natty was very happy to model her new shoes and to model her Easter dress. She didn't have it last week for Easter but will be able to show it off tomorrow. She looks very pretty in it.

I have had fun helping the achievement day girls build their own little boxes. They have been over the last two nights to paint the boxes with the color of their choice - so long as it was either black, red or green - the colors in my library at the moment. The boxes are looking good and I am proud of these girls. Andy has also wanted to paint a project we did for him of a little table. He got on that with his brush and has it looking splendid.

So anyway, after a long day of labors I rolled up to Jay and Sara's to pick up Natty and Andy. Lo and behold there in the front yard over by the driveway was their scooters. Apparently the scooters were stolen by none other than Jack and Natty themselves and hidden at Jay and Sara's. Oh how wonderful is that?

I am grateful today to see blessings from our Heavenly Father in my own life and in the life of family and friends. It is wonderful to rejoice in the blessings others receive.

The .uck family

Every week Jack comes home with a list of spelling words and at the end of that list is a word family word. For instance, .in was a word family. Words that are part of this family include in, fin, win, pin, sin, kin, tin, bin, twin, spin, etc. As we practice his spelling words we will usually pick out some words for that weeks word family to study. Well, we procrastinated this weeks spelling list until this morning right before school and the test. I was a little shocked when I found the word family for this week was .uck. Surely first graders would have nothing to do with the grand-daddy of four letter words. I quizzed the boy on his words and asked him what some .uck words were. Wouldn't you know that the first word out of his mouth was Fudge. I couldn't believe it. I turned and looked at Natty and we both kind of stared at each other with our jaws dropped to the floor. Then we laughed and I had to explain to Jack that this was not a good word and that we don't say it. He took the correction well and I hope that this particular member of the .uck word family doesn't slip itself into Jacks vocabulary anytime soon.

In other news the diamond blade floor grinder is a bad piece of equipment. We rented out the grinder and had to buy the blade so that we could grind down the floor in some areas at the Brick House. That thing kicked some butt. It worked better on the carpet glue then anything else we've used. That machine is a butt kicker but not quite as bad as the other one - the floor stripper. Actually did great and kicked up a ton of dust which it always does. There was a moment when I thought I was working in thick fog.

I am exhausted today and can barely think at the moment so I am hitting the sack.

I Got Skills

As we were moving along this morning in our normal before school routine I was sitting on the couch helping Jack get dressed and we were talking. I don't recall the topic of discussion but I do remember Jack saying "I got skills". I replied something like "yes, mad skills, you've got crazy skills". I thought at the time that I could discuss the conversation on the blog because I thought it was pretty funny that Jack would refer to his skills. I couldn't remember the context of the conversation and should have written it down. I went and asked Jack when I was tucking him in to bed and he claims we were talking about Mater-National for the Wii and he corrected me... I asked him what we were talking about this morning when he talked about having skills. His reply "Mater-National and it was mad skills". He seems pretty certain it was Mater-National, it could very well have been. I should have made a note but oh well. I chuckled again tonight when the skill level in his own mind jumped up to mad skills.

I too have mad skills. They are mad cookie baking skills. In this instance I would have to say that maybe it is my skill level at baking cookies that suffers. I must be determined to bake the perfect sugar free cookie and yet do it so rarely that I forget just how crappy the last batch of cookies was.

Well, I am asleep and need to draw this to a close. Mmmm, that's crazy!

Money For Nothin

At 4:50 AM I heard a commotion coming from Jack's room and got out of bed to see what was going on. Before I even got out of my room I knew what it was and was actually quite relieved. The noise I heard was Jack on the move in quick order. He had climbed out of bed and raced to the bathroom where he threw up in the toilet. His aim wasn't perfect and he launched a little on the wall but I am good with that, it is an easy clean up. 30 minutes later I had him laying down with a bowl, the bathroom clean and I was climbing back in to bed. I couldn't immediately fall asleep as I was listening intently so I could be there immediately in case of additional problems. Poor kid. Not sure what the deal is with all of the throw up lately. I am really hoping it is an isolated incident. We shall see.

Well, I couldn't really send him to school so Jack spent the day with me. He sat in the truck a lot with his bowl, he helped me fix a few electrical outlets at the Brick House, he had a great time visiting with Jason and his helper at the Brick House and he fell asleep down in the offices of the LBH. We had come prepared for that with Mr. Fluffaluffagus, a towel, a pillow and a bowl. He ate some ice cream tonight and I am hoping it does the trick.

At one point when we were driving around the Dire Straits classic Money for Nothin came on the radio. We cranked it up. I told Jack it was one of my favorite songs and how when I was young we would drive around listening to it and Grandpa would crank up the volume pretty loud. He really liked the song and has sung a couple parts of it since then. It is one of my all time favs. I decided to show him a few other Grandpa tricks like "look over there" Grandpa had planted the seed for the discussion earlier in the day so it was good timing on our parts. Jack wasn't going to let me get away with being the only one to use this sweet trick. He pulled it on me a time or two. We had a good laugh about it.

I have been completely dead the last few days. It is pretty sad. I really want to run tonight as I didn't run last night. So I am going to wrap this up. I definitely want my MTV and my chics for free.

Jack who is laying on the couch right now just said "Dad, I wish you were nicer. Can I have a piece of bread?" Love that, he knows just how to set me up for action. I must prove that I am nicer. What a kook.

Pinewood or Cedar Derby?

My friend Heidi asked me to help her boys cut out their pinewood derby cars for the upcoming derby. They came over last night and we got it done. They both had pretty cool designs and it gave me an excuse to go and pick up some new blades for the scroll saw and to play with it some. I like some of the things you can do with that saw. Anyway Natty, Jack and Andy all watched at various moments in the process and it wasn't but two minutes into the deal that Jack had a block of wood of his own with a car shape drawn on it. He actually opted to go with a pick up truck design.

When I was finished with Miles and Ethan I got to work on Jacks. Then I was handed a block from Andy. His car was a very special automobile that was actually made in the shape of four letter - Andy. It was pretty cool. Natalie was right there next with a block of wood with a car drawn on. Well, then she decided she wanted it to have wings like the batmobile. Hey, this is a scroll saw we are talking about, just about anything is possible and the batmobile had its wings.

It was fun to play with the saw and become more familiar with it. I had only used it once when the blade that was on it broke. Anyhow, I was enjoying it and picked up a few things during the process. One thing for sure, a portable plastic fold up table is not the ideal working service for this saw. We managed but it got a little bouncy. Once the shapes were all cut the kids disappeared and the shapes remained. I guess the excitement wore off pretty quickly.

This afternoon was the 2nd of 3 Activity Days meetings that I am doing. I believe I mentioned previously the little boxes that the girls are making. They are all doing very well. Today they hand sanded their boxes to smooth out some of the wood filler and then the power sander finished off the boxes. The girls even got a base coat of black paint done on their boxes. Well, more painting needs to be done on these and some other things as well. The girls are doing good and we are having a good time. With the base coat painting complete I grabbed a couple of cars that were cut out and painted them as well. Might as well move things along. It didn't end there. Two hours later we were putting custom paint jobs on these items.

Perhaps it just took a day for the excitement of these block carvings to kick in. Jack was extremely excited about it and will have me cutting out wheels for everyone in no time I am sure. Anyhow, grateful for the strength a little block of cedar has and look forward to Jack's first Pinewood Derby whenever it may be. He will definitely be ready.

Try to Get Some Weeding Done

One of my favorite parts of Saturday Night Live when I was growing up were the deep thoughts by Jack Handy. Here is one that I always enjoyed:

If you ever go temporarily insane, don't shoot somebody, like a lot of people do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you'd really be surprised

I don't know why I like that one. Perhaps it is the fact that it just gives some pretty excellent advice. Personally I find working in the yard to be one of the most relaxing and rejuvenating activities. I love to be out of doors and I love trying to keep a nice yard. I like that. I don't know how I managed to get so lucky with the current house with all of the seasonal flowers that automatically grow and bloom. What an amazing color display when I look out the window.

This morning I got the kids up early and got them ready for school. They went to Jay and Sara's because we were going to help load a piano for the folks the parents are buying the house from. That was one heavy piano. Fortunately the guy backed his trailer right to where it was so the walk wasn't long. After getting them loaded up Andy wanted to stay with Grandma and did so for the day. It sounds like he had a great time. Thanks grandma for the wonderful day. After I dropped Jay off at home I pulled into my drive, got out of the truck and started pulling weeds. I hadn't gone insane or anything, just felt like pulling some weeds. Funny that they start to take over your yard if you don't stay on top of them.

As mentioned I have a yard that is equipped with all the great seasonal flowers. Different flowers bloom at different times of the year. It is really quite amazing. Without looking real hard you wouldn't notice all of the weeds but after digging in and pulling a few suddenly many more appear. It is also funny that no matter how well I do at pulling weeds today there are going to be more weeds in the future. It takes constant vigilence. Such is my own life. I may appear to be fine and on top of everything but let me tell you, I have some weeds. It takes effort everyday to keep my weeds under control and to reduce them. When I am not very diligent in the things that I need to do then the weeds can take over. Regaining control takes even greater effort.

Well, I think the point is made. And so the Jack Handy quote really is quite a good one - Try to get some weeding done, because you'd really be surprised.

Happy Easter 2011

Next year I am going to cook a lamb for our Easter meal. Bro. Jacob Porter spoke about some Easter traditions one of which included a lamb feast. Kind of makes sense for Easter. Anyway we were all set up for a ham tonight so that is what we went with but I thought it might be fun to do a lamb. I don't think anyone in the fam was particularly interested or enthused about the idea of lamb. What a shame.

We hosted the family meal for those of us in Cedar at my place. It was great to have everyone over and the first Easter with family for us for a very long time. We have spent the 5 previous Easters with John and Kathy Schatz, our Florida family. Anyway, fun times.

Hey faithful readers. I am going to have to come back to this. I cannot stay awake and am butchering everything.

It is time to close. I will come back when I can open my eyes.

An Old Fashioned Arse Whoopin

So early this morning - okay not so early. So at 7 this morning I rolled in to the Brick House and went back to work on the floor with the floor stripper that I mentioned in yesterdays post titled "shake it". That post could have very well been a tribute to my sister in law Dani who is a Zumba instructor and is constantly invited her girls to come shake it on Thursday night. I usually give her grief for excluding the gents and threaten my attendance at one of these events. I figure they have to be loaded with ladies as Dani only references ladies in her FaceBook posts on the matter. Hmmmm.

Well back to this morning. I grabbed the machine and fired it up. I did not want to be there. My hands are dead from the vibration of the machine and the rest of my body was aching as well. My chest is very sore from leaning on the machine and pushing it along through the glue. Anyway, as I was getting beat I couldn't help but think of Jim Carey in the movie Liar Liar when he is in the bathroom beating himself up and says "I'm kicking my own arse". Yes, that particular feeling was there throughout, sometimes more prominent than others. I was certainly glad when it was finished though I immediately found myself driving to the folks to help with moving today.

Yes the folks moved... again. Hopefully they have now found a place they can make their permanent home. It is a nice house with very green carpet. Very green. Lovely. In time they will be changing the carpet. Anyhow, it was a good move for them. Nice to have Jim, Jay and Dave all there as well. Made the load a lot lighter. Naturally the folks were involved as well and Clorinda, Jayson and Jaykob came and helped. Congrats anyway to the folks. Thanks also for dinner.

Well, I have to go and assist the Easter Bunny in getting a few things set up for the kids. Sweet. I will do my best to quickly recover from this good old fashion arse whoopin and try to avoid these beatings in the future.

Shake It

I am exhausted right now. This has been a very full day and I have managed to keep busy throughout. My business comes from things that need to be done at the brick house. Wow, there is much. Today we rented a machine that scrapes the old carpet glue off of cement. It is really quite the machine. Lets just say that I feel like I have been beaten in battle. Wow.

The kids had a great time with their cousins and I appreciate all the help from Jay and Sara that has allowed me to work. I know that it is a sacrifice on their part and I am grateful.

I have to close. I have to get up in a few hours and head back into the shop. We only have a few more hours to wrap everything up with the machine. Anywho, I will be shaking it again in the morning. Sweet.

Shazam! I nearly forgot - I am not taking the time now but I do have a pic of Dave operating the machine. I will upload it to the blog sometime in the next couple of days. Cheers!

Popcorn Ceilings and Split Heads

Will popcorn ceilings ever come back in to style? I venture to say this is one style that will never come back. We should all be grateful for that. I am sure there are still those that shoot this crap on ceilings just so they can irritate rational people. Honestly, this is tacky. The world is a better place without popcorn ceiling. No really, it is.

I spent the day scraping popcorn off of three ceilings at the future home of the Little Brick House. There is one more room with it but I thought I would just leave it there as it will be the work room and not really open to the public. Well, I think I have changed my mind about this as it is a room that I will be spending some time in with different projects. Once I finished the other large room that will be retail space I was looking and comparing through the door way that separates the two. I think the unfinished drywall is a much cleaner look then the old popcorn ceiling. It is noticeably darker and just feels dirty. So chances are highly probable that I will be scraping another ceiling soon. I really don't like the popcorn look. As Amy would say, "woof!".

Andy took a dive into the corner of a wall at Jay and Sara's tonight. What is with these people? Their home is like a destructive zone for my kids. Natalie with her leg and now Andy with his head. What is the deal? Actually he was just playing around and managed to fly right into the corner whilst leading with the head. He was horsing around with Uncle Bubba who was feeling pretty bad about it. No worries Dave. It happens. He only cried for a little bit and then did very well as the gash in his head was probably a half inch long. I held him for a while with a towel and ice on his head and then after an application of neosporin he was ready to go and dye some Easter eggs. The kid is tough as nails. It was funny to watch him walk over to the table. He was a little wobbly but he kept his balance well enough.




I have a problem myself when it comes to my kids and blood. I don't do real well with that. Clorinda was assisting with the neosporin and was looking to give me some to apply. I told her to go ahead and take care of it. Later Sara talked about applying a liquid bandage. I was cool with that so long as she did it. She did. Both Clo and Sara had a laugh at me for being so weak in the knees. Well, really I was performing my duty of holding Andy and comforting him through the various treatments. Obviously performed admirably as Andy didn't fuss. That's my boy. Really, like I would be afraid to apply a little neosporin or paint on a bandage... please.

Dune

I am fairly certain that there is a book series called Dune. I can't say for sure and can not speak to the quality of that read as I don't read. If Jim Dale is reading it as part of the listening library then there is a chance I could strap on a little Dune but for now I will remain in a state of not knowing.

My dune reference in the title has everything to do with a little family get together today at Snow Canyon. Clorinda is up with the kids and we met her in St. George a long with Jay and Sara and fam. We then went up had lunch and enjoyed the sand dunes in Snow Canyon. It was a good visit and the kids all seemed to enjoy themselves.

So if you have previously read this post you will note that all of this is new. I was tuckered out last night and cut out early. Sometimes it is too difficult to keep the eyes open and it prolongs the post time. Anyhow, here is more info.

Jack was having a hard time with the sand blowing in his eyes. He kept running back to where we camped and would wipe his eyes on grandmas shirt. He had some snotty moments but finally found a way to relax. Here he is with his booty in a hole, lounging at the dunes. We went on to dig a triple tunnel in this spot and he ended up having a very enjoyable day.




Andy started off a little slow. He wasn't so sure about all this sand and had to get used to it. He hung out with his cousins for a while and when he discovered things were okay he was off and running. He ended up with Clayton for quite a while digging a fairly large hole.





Natty was all over the place and seemed to have a great time with her cousins. Here are a couple of shots with her and Katherine enjoying the dunes in dramatic fashion.




A couple other glorious moments include Anna and her massive two tone snot. Just had to get a picture of this one and post it for all to enjoy.



Jayson also found himself in a bit of a hole.



Well, it was a good time. All had fun and my camera may have actually survived but I am not exactly sure just yet. It has not wanted to open quite right but I don't know if that is due to low battery or the infiltration of the sand. Wonderful.

And now my original closing from last night:

Crap, I hate to be bugging out on this post but I am half asleep. I do have some pretty fun pics from the trip and what not. I will upload them and finish this post a little later. I can't manage to keep my eyes open right now so... Call it - Time of post termination, 11:47 PM.

Um, that was gross

When there is a job to do sometimes all you can do it suck it up and make it happen. At the future home of the Little Brick House there was grease to be removed. I've discussed that previously - nasty. I seriously doubt anybody ever wiped down a wall. Thick nasty grease. Well, I didn't think we could find anything worse than the grease dripping from the ceiling, not just dripping from the ceiling but streaming from it. Well, I was mistaken. As noted a couple days ago we were sanding down the floor to refinish it. It has turned out rather well. I am in the process of going around the floor with a hand sander and hitting all of the close up spots that the sander couldn't reach. It is a bit of a chore.

What's so gross about sanding right? Well, baseboards had been removed previously and I am hitting edges with the hand sander that happens to be sanding just below the drywall. There are thick chunks of food flying out of the wall. I don't know how that happens - does flour and oil somehow mix under or behind the baseboard and create this greasy cake like substance? It was simply gross. Nothing quite like a good lard cake freshly scraped off the wall. Mmmmm delicious.

Had a little Activity Day Girls activity at my house this afternoon. Sara asked if I would put on a project with the girls and have them build something. I settled on doing boxes and had a sample already that we would use as a pattern. It went well. I have 3 assembled boxes in the garage waiting for next week when we will do some sanding and apply the first coat of paint. I may need to figure out a rapid dry system because we will need to get our color coat on as well. They will return a third time to finish the project and I was not thinking about the poly coat earlier today. I may have to do a little helping this week so that we can finish on time. Hmmm. I had Natty here along with Mack and then Ashley Jenkins. They seem to have had a good time and that is what matters. I don't know that any had previously used a power sander and mitre saw. I think the power of the saw made them a little nervous but they all did fine and no one lost a finger. I went ahead and took care of the nail gun. I just saw that going wrong and I have already been shot in the finger once by a nail gun soooo...

Right, the shooting came from a guy named Jim. I was working new construction plumbing in Vegas back in 97. We were running gas pipe and needed to nail a 2X4 up for support. He had the nail gun, I held the wood in place. He missed the wood and shot me in the right index finger if memory serves. It was direct so it didn't stick in the bone or anything but it does remind of the time growing up when the old man came up stairs from the basement on Glider Lane with a nail going through his finger. He played it pretty well and Jim (brother Jim not Jim from the previous story) just about lost it. Major panic. Anyway it was a fake nail that clipped over the finger. Oh what a moment of trickery. This was back in the days when I had to lock myself in the bathroom when Jim was babysitting for protective purposes so I found a bit of personal delight in the terror he experienced that day.

Well, if any are hungry and want to try an aged grease cake I am sure we can scrounge one up for you. Most of it is sitting in a garbage can with a bit of saw dust all about it but that just adds a little flare to it, nay, a little fiber. You know we all could use a little more fiber in our diets.

Fading Fast

Oh my goodness. I am feeling it big time tonight. Just struggling to keep my eyes open. We had FHE with Jay and Sara and fam tonight and I started nodding off in a very wonderful and highly insightful lesson about Tobacco, Drugs and Alchohol. Mack and Natty graduated from the DARE program week and Sara invited Mack to give share some information on it. Natty heard and decided she wanted to participate. They did a fine job. Sitting still and listening did me in though. I have not been able to really wake up from that. We managed to do our reading for school and our scripture reading but it wasn't without heavy eyes and random moments of silence. Sometimes it is just tough.

I actually think my exhaustion tonight stems from my laundry folding marathon on Saturday night that kept me up until 3 AM. We had worked all day at the Brick House and got the kids home and in be at midnight. I then turned on something and folded clothes. I only had 5 loads to fold. No big thing. Then it was up and moving on Sunday morning for church. I just don't think I have quite recovered yet. Oh well, we will get there eventually.

Actually had all the kids down by 9:30 tonight and as soon as I finish my post I will actually be jumping on the elliptical for an hour. That should get the blood flowing again. My running pace has slowed a bit this month with being sick. Sometimes that can do you in. I was in a rythrm last month but things are a bit slow this month. I don't know if I will break 100 miles this month. It will be tough. Two weeks to go. I need to push it.

More work on the floor today at the Brick House. It is really looking good. So much better then what it was. We should start seeing some walls go up tomorrow. I have a few more hours of sanding to do on the floor edges and then we will need to get a finish sander to hit the entire floor again. We've also got all the concrete floors to clean up and seal as well. Looking forward to getting those done and bringing everything together.

Not a lot of excitement in this post. Perhaps I will be more awake tomorrow. Until then...

Just Love

I love people. I was so happy to be in church today and to enjoy the spirit of the meetings. I was happy to look around and see people that I have come to know over the last 10 months and to enjoy being there with them. I recognize that there are many like me who struggle every day. We all have weaknesses, we all fall short of the example of the Savior and of our potential, we all rely on the same atonement of Jesus Christ in order for us to overcome our weaknesses and to conquer physical and spiritual death.

It can be easy in this life to focus on the ill in others, to look at faults and weaknesses of others and boost ourselves up in our own eyes because clearly we don't have those faults or weaknesses. At the same time it is easy to look at others and see perfection whilst we know in ourselves that we are inadequate and we don't do this as good as they do or that as good as someone else.

I remember being taught by my Mission President that we are all at different stages in our spiritual progression. The most important thing that we can focus on is where we stand with the Lord and are we moving forward, standing still or sliding backwards? I hope that I am moving forward. I try to be diligent in a few key things and that has made a difference in my life. I know however that there are several other things that I need to work on improving, things that will help me to move forward as I strive to progress to my potential.

Feeling like the eyes of the congregation are on you is not fun. Feeling like you have let down your family and disappointed those you love is a miserable state. When things in life fall apart it becomes very easy to beat yourself up over them. I think there are a few things that help you through these times. For me it consisted of living angels. Friends and family who loved me through my despair and were there with a listening ear and a willingness to serve no matter what. That love provides light in dark times and sometimes that is exactly what you need. Do I provide that same kind of love that I was so freely given?

The Savior said "As I have loved you, love one another". His is a perfect love, unconditional. Nobody had to earn it, it is freely given and because it is given freely the Savior is loved in return. I hope that I can better follow that example and just love others. Love them for who they are, a child of God. Don't focus on what they have or have not accomplished but see them for who they can become and love them for that. I hope that I can do that and that others will do that for me. I hope that I can do that for myself as well. Just love. I'm not going to go out and shave my head, wear funny robes and hand out flowers but I do hope that during the days of my life I will be found filled with charity toward all men. Not an easy thing to do but I think it a goal worthy of my time and effort.

Kites, Slides and Sanding

This morning we went to Discovery Park for the SUU Head Start C-4 Fatherhood Activity for Andy. On the menu, kite flying. Sweet. For those who are familiar with Cedar you know that the wind is always blowing at Discovery Park so it is the perfect place to go fly kites. Wouldn't you know it, today there was no wind, well very slight wind anyway. Kites did fly and all three kids enjoyed their kites and the activity. It was good. Andy didn't last very long with his kite but he sure did enjoy climbing this tree.



The slip n slide was in action today and all the kids enjoyed themselves. The water was a bit cold and they were a little less than excited in the beginning but then they got into it and had a great time. Well, the boys were less than excited but Natty got them going and excited. It was fun to see some smiling, wet faces.





Busy could describe the day I've had. It just didn't stop. Fatherhood activity followed by soccer sign ups, then we set up slip n slide. The kids liked it. I also ended up putting in a lot of time at the LBH. Lots and lots to do with sanding the floor. There was also carpet to rip up, blinds to take down and several other little things. Grateful to have Dave there and pops worked the sander like a wild man. The floor is looking so much better. It is really quite remarkable.


Well, I am beat. The day has been full and I am ready to crash out. Grateful for Jay and Sara and also mom having the kids over while I worked. Very much appreciated.

Asleep

I would love to type out a masterpeice tonight on the meaning of life, really I would. Unfortunately I am sleep typing as we speak. I can barely keep my eyes open. I was up late last night working and then up early this morning as I couldn't sleep. I did get a nice little 4 mile run in.

So anyhow, I cannot keep my eyes open. I don't know. To my faithful 4 followers I thankyou for your commitmemt .

I will be back tomorrow and may throw down some info from today that I am simply too tired to manage right now.

Peace, out.

Announcement!

Isn't that a catchy title? Now you are wondering what the heck I am going to announce. Well read on my friends, it will be well worth your time.

I was in the office working on a personal matter this afternoon when Amy showed up and was scouring over some pictures of a friend that is getting married. Apparently these were pictures being considered for the big announcement. I always enjoy having a gander at wedding announcements. Happy couple preparing to get married, lovely. You get those that are simple and then those that are quite the production. Whether in matching attire or not I like to see them and then try to figure out if I have any idea who these people are. Today Amy was checking out pics of her friend Skyler - I know him, he's like one of the brothers - right Amy?

Graduation announcements. Those are cool. I liked getting the announcement for Jordan Rogers. Actually I got it just after getting his Eagle Court of Honor announcement. As he was one of my favorite scouts this was a lot of fun. Also fun to show Natty pics of her once favorite baby sitter who she had a little crush on back in the day. Jordan is now serving a mission. It is fun to see young men that you worked with progressing in life.

I don't do a lot with the newspaper anymore but every now and again I pop it open and have a gander. Funny I always seem to spend time in the obituaries as well as the first birthday pics. Those make for an interesting read.

Well, personally I have no major announcement today. Perhaps some day in the future but for now I am sitting tight and holding the fort. There is an announcement from Andy that I wish to share. This is an announcement of vital importance in our lives.

Said Andy:

"Chocolate Milk makes me fart!" That right there is the beauty of the announcement. I have given Andy lots of chocolate milk for years and had no idea it gave Andy a little gas. Now however, I am prepared. When Andy drinks chocolate milk, stand clear. You have been warned...

That Was Heavy

Tonight the old man, Dave and myself moved some stuff out of the basement of the new LBH building and into the parking lot. There are some local metal scrappers that are coming to haul away a bunch of old equipment and said they would take an old freezer and old cast iron water heater from the basement as well. We just had to get it up top for them. Nothing we can't handle.

I think Dave and I were a bit nervous when we grabbed on to the water heater. Padre was talking about how this scrapping guy came down and tilted the thing like it was nothing. He must eat small animals for breakfast or have a third testicle because that thing was not moving. I could barely tilt it putting all my weight into it. Turns out it was full of water so we opened the valve and let it drain. It drained for what seemed a lifetime.

During the period of drainage we moved quite a few old racks and other miscellaneous items up stairs. Then it was time for the chest freezer. I am so glad that they make things much lighter today then they did in the past. This thing had to weigh a solid 400 pounds. We thought we would try and slide it up the greasy stairs. Not happening. So genius, that would be me, decides we are going to basically roll it up the stairs. Well, it worked. Dave will never have children but we got that thing up there. What a beast.

The water heater was still draining. I grabbed my pipe wrench and pulled off another plug. That sped things up and all too quickly it was time to move that tank. I don't think it was quite as heavy as the freezer but it was right up there with it. Glad to have it done and wish the three testicled small animal eating man all the best with these items tomorrow.

I figure that both of these were left down in the basement for a reason. They probably quit working 20 years ago but moving them was not worth the trouble so they just left them down stairs. I really cant say that I blame them. It was certainly one of those moments when you look back and think that there was probably a much better way to do that job, well, a much safer way anyway. We did discover a big wheeled dolly that worked like a dream.

Well, what are some things hanging out and weighing me down? What do I have sitting in my own basement knowing that I should get rid of it yet am content to let it take up space? That burden is heavy and getting rid of it may seem like it is too much to handle yet we have a savior that will make the burden light. No need to carry around the extra weight. The physical demands of the loads lifted this evening help me appreciate even more the willingness of the Savior to take upon him my sins and to take upon him my burdens that they may be light.

Jack's 7

Hard to believe we ware at birthday number seven for big Jack. I am truly amazed at just how fast time has passed. What a tremendous blessing this boy has been in my life and in the life of our family. He possesses such a loving heart. I love to watch him with people to see how he will react. I remember vividly the final soccer game and heading over to the party at Canyon park. We stopped to pick up cookies at Lins as this was our assignment. On the way out of the store there was a young boy that was very upset. He was wearing the same soccer uniform as Jack but was in a younger division. Anyhow, his mom was trying to put a baby into the car and he was not happy. Jack walked right up to him, patted him a bit on the shoulder and told him everything was going to be alright. The boy calmed right down and Jack carried on his way to the car. Isn't it wonderful when you are taught simple lessons by your 6 year old? I love those little lessons. I love learning from Jack and Natty and Andy as well. They are wonderful kids.


Anyhow, seven years old. Wow, a year from now he will be of the age for baptism. He knows this and he is preparing for it and that is also an exciting thing. But today he turned 7 and we had a great time celebrating with him.

Natty and I started off by sneaking in his room to sing Happy Birthday. Well our sneaking didn't last long as he was already awake and sitting up in his bed. I told him to pretend to be asleep and we would sing to him. He did. It was great - his acting, not our singing.

I served him his crustless peanut butter and jelly sanwhich for breakfast this morning with a candle. He loved that. Andy helped me bring some treats into Jacks class. I saw Mrs. Robb at Wal Mart later and she said everything went really well. Glad for that.

A while back Jack said he wanted 7 balloons for his birthday. I couldn't let him down and went and found 7 unique balloons at the dollar store. I knew we were going to win big when there was a truck shaped balloon. I was most impressed when I got home with them and Jack decided he would share a balloon with Andy. Andy was very excited.



Later during presents Jack got the latest Diary of a Whimpy Kid to add to our collection. He was really excited about it but not for him. He was excited to give that book to Natalie. He knew how much she wanted it and I had told her before hand that I was going to get it and that it would be more of a family git. She was cool with that and then her eyes got really big when Jack gave it to her. It was a fun moment - for me anyway.


I know it will come as a huge disappointment to many but I actually bought the cake for today. It was a Costco cake and was very good. I mean, I know I can bake a mean cake that happens to fall apart - that just adds character, but this was very nice. Once it was home it was done and i didn't have to worry any longer. I like that. I did accessories with a new toy train - it was a nice touch.


We had all the Cedar fam over for dinner and the festivities. It was great to have everyone here and all seemed to have a good time. During cake time Jack decided to put his face in his cake. He took a couple of bites like a dog and then he stuffed his face in his own cake. I had served him an enormous piece that had a large green balloon on it. When he pulled his head up the big green balloon pulled from the cake and stuck on his face. We all had a good laugh and then everyone joined in the game. Sweet. There was cake stuck to a few faces. Funny times.





Well, seven years have wiped me out. I am closing up shop tonight and calling it. Happy Birthday Jackson Boy. Sure do love you.

Nut But

I am all kind of jazzed about the vitamix. Love that machine. I got the replacement lid in at the end of last week and so I had to work out the machine. Smiths is all out of hazelnuts if you can believe that. So disappointing. I bought them out actually but I have only ever purchased two bags so it isn't like I was hoarding the stuff. Well, without hazelnuts on hand I decided to go with another nut butter as the base for my sugar free nutella. My last batch of hazelnut spread turned out not so good. I still ate it but had to endure a slightly burned hazelnut aftertaste. Very sad.

When Smiths was out of hazels I decided to go with almonds. I tried walnuts a few weeks back and it was okay but was a little overpowering. Chocolate covered almonds are a favorite so why not give that another go. It turned out fairly well. There was no burned flavor in the mix which tells me it was the hazelnuts and not the splenda that was the problem. Glad for that. Now if I can just get more hazelnuts. I need to find them cheaper then what I pay for them at Smiths. Wouldn't mind getting some that have the skin already removed. Mmmm. Good stuff.

Amy's birthday today. Can't believe my baby sister is 22. I am getting old. I am pretty sure I could still take her in a foot race so we're all good. That might be a fun thing to throw down, a Fontano Sibling Foot Race. I'll even get really crazy and open it up to spouses as well. 100 yard dash should do it. Clearly I would win any sort of distance event so might as well do the sprints. Serious dig at Amy there. Okay, so whose in? Oh, you need motivation. Very well, to the victor goes a fresh made batch of hazelnut spread - sugar free. Assuming we can find some hazelnuts somewhere...

Hit the Cycle

At 4 AM I woke up to screaming coming from Natalie's room. I stumbled a bit down the hall after jumping out of bed and opened the door to find Natty sitting on her bed. "I'm going to throw up" she said. I was expecting to find an intruder in the room that I would have to chase out the window and tackle in the yard as I valiantly came to her rescue. Not so. No just the wonderful announcement that I have been waiting for over a week to hear. Alas, I was prepared. A week ago I started putting a bowl in her room so that she would be ready when the moment arrived. She had forgotten about it and couldn't see it there on the floor, waiting. I picked it up and handed it to her and she filled it. Oh how I love that. We had a couple additional events for the next hour but then she was back out and slept a while. That altered the plans for the day and we all ended up home from Church.

Poor Natty is not having fun with the sickness. I do have to say that with the boys they do their thing - puke, breath, puke, breath, sleep, puke, breath... With Natalie she wants to discuss the entire thing. I'd rather not. She has done well even if she has made me clean out her bowl a few times. Oh that is rough. I find my secret weapon is called holding my breath. Start the hot water in the sink before hand, go in with breath held, grab the container, b-line toward the sink, dump, rinse, wash it down, breath again. There simply isn't time to mess around with this process. Doing so could cause a gag reflex that could result in a much bigger problem and so we move. Have to.

The boys enjoyed playing around all day with a variety of things. The wood blocks have been a hit in the home for a few days now. All was going well there until Andy did something Jack didn't like and Jack walloped Andy with a block. We had the opportunity to practice expected behavior and then got to sit on the couch for a time and reflect upon it. We all managed to work together later to get those blocks cleaned up and the boys went on to crafting things with construction paper, scissors, glue, and crayons. They had a ball and kept handing me things that they wanted to give to their mom. A while later they spent some time on Skype chatting with her. They have managed to play fairly well together all day with minimal fighting. Grateful for that.

I took advantage of modern day technology and went back to review some of the talks from General Conference last week. I was rather sickly on Sunday and missed much of both sessions so I went back and watched several of the talks from each of those sessions. They were great. One of the big themes this conference had to be marriage and single guys getting on the ball. I thought it was only Elder Oaks and President Monson who spoke rather pointedly on this but I was mistaken. Elder Scott also gave some direct counsel on the matter. I am sure that I am included in their thoughts though I have to say they seemed directed more towards those young single men who have put off marriage in pursuit of other things. I do however feel the responsibility to work on that and have discussed some of those feelings previously. It is somewhat of a delicate thing. Anyhow, it was a great day of conference review. Also spent some time with President Fawson who came over to meet for a while. I appreciate him doing so and enjoy serving with this good man.

Uncle Bubba came over to help out with a Priesthood Blessing for Natty Sue. She is doing pretty well but has stayed in her bed all day. That is okay. I am sure she will be home tomorrow and hope to have her back to school by Tuesday but we will take it a day at a time. Grateful for her faith in the Priesthood. She is a good girl. Glad to have finally hit the cycle with this particular illness and look forward to everyone being past it.

Shout out to Amy and an apology for our missing her cake and ice cream party tonight at the folks house. Big double 2 tomorrow. Wow.

Frosty

It is the 9th of April. If this were Florida we would be enjoying some amazing weather right now. Actually, here in Cedar City a week ago we were enjoying some amazing weather and then had a surprise storm. It all cleared at the beginning of this week and then Thursday a storm blew into town and late Thursday small snow flurries began. There was snow on the ground Friday morning and it continued to snow through this afternoon. It wasn't ever super thick and sticky. There were no snow plows on the streets that I could see and there wasn't any accumulation to speak of on the sidewalks or driveways. That's cool.

We went and worked today at the new building. It was great to have Dave and Dad there and together we got a lot done. With the winter weather that is upon us I think we were all a bit frosty. It was pretty dang cold as we haven't hooked up the gas yet and don't have any heat in the building. Still much to do but we are moving along and it is fun. Dad had some folks come in to check it out and managed to sell our first rental space for $300 per month. Nice work. Apparently this guy builds furniture and he is excited to display and sell it in the store. We like that.

Natty, Jack and Andy came in to the store today. I guess they were having a hard time getting along this morning and there were a couple of little melt downs so grandma brought them in to see me. I was happy to see them and I think we got them all squared away. Jack stayed at the shop with me and Natty later came and joined. Grandma kept Andy as he has a little cold and I think wanted to stay with her. Much thanks for all the help last night and today ma. There were definitely times when both Natty and Jack were ready to be done but they held on for quite a while as we worked. Natty did some helping out and was excited to wear some work gloves. Very stylish. I think mostly she just wanted to be around and pester her uncle Bubba. Jack manned the car and at one moment when I went to check on him and chat for a moment he caught the brim of my hat in the power window and I was stuck there. He started to laugh and then really laughed when I pulled my head out of the hat and it just hung there. Naturally this became a new game and so I only had to do it another dozen or so times. Each time he laughed just as hard as the time before. It never got old for him. I am sure that was just my amazing acting and working of the facial expressions. Yeah, sure thing.

I owed Jack a milkshake and he wasn't letting me forget it. It is a tradition when we get a haircut to get a milkshake. I cut his hair on Thursday and today he was ready to collect. A frosty from Wendy's was his milkshake of choice. No problem. I had to use it for a little more motivation today at moments when he was ready to be gone. He did good though as did Natty so after we were done we went and picked up Andy and then headed over to Wendys for a small frosty. I like to park over by Eccles Colosseum and SUU and let the kids eat their frosty's. They had a good time. Natty always wants to get out of the car and do something. Today she asked if she could run over to the end of the parking lot and back. Sure. Then as she started running I backed the truck up to the opposite end of the parking lot very slowly. She had no idea until she reached the end she was running to and turned around. We had a good laugh.

Lips Burnin

Took a trip to Vegas this afternoon. I am fairly certain that I have mentioned previously the date that I had for tonight. Anyhow that is what took me there. I just returned home at 3 AM. That makes for a pretty long day. The date was great. Actually, I probably should have done a much better job then I did. I had a plan in place that included dinner and then a walk. I had scoped out some walking trails in the area where my lovely date lives and I am sure they would have been spectacular but we sat and talked at dinner for a while. The sun had gone down and it was a wee bit chilly so I suggested that maybe we didn't want to walk and she wasn't opposed either way but suggested that we could also just go back to her house. I thought that sounded good.

We ended up talking and hanging out a while longer and I have to say that she has some of the best stories. Oh my goodness. I was laughing and what is great about it is that she finds joy in the experiences as well. I really like that she could laugh at herself and was comfortable enough to share embarrassing moments with me. It was a lot of fun. I left her place at 11 Vegas time and headed home. That was midnight my time and normally I would have a pretty sleepy drive but I stayed wide awake the entire drive thinking about her, recounting her stories and laughing again. I then thought about a few things that I most certainly screwed up on in the date. I shouldn't worry too much about it if I remember Mike's advice on dating anyway: "Two steps forward, one step back. Two steps forward, one step back". Thanks Mike, I will do my best not to be too nice - right???

I have to say that my lips are burnin. Wow! My date is a hot woman too be sure and I know that this will come as a great disappointment to some but my burnin lips have nothing to do with tonight's date and everything to do with my Franks Red Hot flavored sunflower seeds. Mmmm, delicious. That'll keep you awake on the road. Sorry to tease you with the title mother. I thought it could work as I was driving home with fire on my lips.

And because I was being a smart A - I just had a colossal dozing off head bob right here at the computer and banged my forehead into the table top. That might leave a mark. And now that I am once again awake I say thanks to mom for watching the kids who I am sure are having a great slumber party at grandma's house. I say thanks to Karry for a great date and for the laughs. Loved the stories. We need to have a complete do-over in our soft serve ice cream cone building contest and I need to redeem myself for the non follow through with the date plan - though I personally didn't mind the amended schedule.

The Squeegee

I am trying to remember which of the brothers came up with the title of The Squeegee as like their official Trampoline Wrestling Federation character. For some reason my mind goes to Pete because he had all the goods when it came to creativity back in the day and even now. Seriously, who wouldn't want to be known as the squeegee? The Squeegee will wipe you right off the mat or trampoline anyway. Titles didn't matter much though, we all know who the champion of the TWF was.

When I was 15 years old I was working at KFC. Yes the fam remembers this time with fondness I am sure. I use to roll home with bags of left over chicken packed in the front compartment of the Zoe 500. The Zoe 500 was the greatest moped ever except that it topped out at like 55 KPH which is nothing to get excited about. Anyhow, whenever I closed the store one of my favorite tools was the squeegee. That think was awesome. As you might imagine we got a little grease on the floor at the old KFC and every night we had to pressure wash the floor. As part of that process we would squeegee everything into the grease trap in the middle of the kitchen floor. That squeegee was just awesome.

Today was the triumphal return of the hallowed squeegee to the arsenal of tools being used by myself. Much thanks to the old man. As detailed in my Grease post, there is a might bit of grease built up everywhere in the new building. It is really nasty. I continued my efforts to remove it today and hit a section with the little squeegee we had and was having a heck of a time because I am short, the handle was short and the squeegee was only 8" wide. It was not going very well or fast. Padre came over and I discussed this with him and suggested a larger squeegee and asked if he had a extension pole. Well, he went over and picked it up and this made all the difference. Then I got an extra special gift and had Amy there to help for a while. That really helped move things along. She manned the squeegee (who can blame her for choosing that job) while I sprayed the ceiling. Good form.

I have to say that the grease dripping off the squeegee and off the ceiling was flat gross. It was about the consistency of the grease that you can squeeze out of a slim jim. You know you are clogging arteries when you snap in to a slim jim. That stuff just oozes out of the meat. Yikes. Need a little excitement...

Tomorrow I have a goal to get in and get crackin early so I can cut out in the early afternoon for a trip to Vegas. I'm thinking the pressure washer may be the tool of choice on the brick walls. Hit em with the degreaser and then shoot em down. I cleaned out the floor drains today and with the power of the squeegee on hand we'll be good to go. Don't mess with the squeegee. We'll see. My list of things that need to be accomplished before I leave is getting longer so I may not get the pressure washer in there until Saturday. Tomorrow may just be the rest of the ceiling - yep, that oughta do.

Ah, this morning I was feeling some serious motivation and decided to knock out the sugar free hazel nut spread. I got my recipe and went for it. Well, not sure if I left the hazelnuts in the oven too long or if the splenda burned from the friction when I mixed it into the butter. I will say that I am quite disappointed in the outcome of this batch. May just need to squeegee it right out of the jars and into the old trash can. Shame. The first batch I did with the regular sugar was awesome but this stuff is not so good. I will probably keep it around anyway. It will be far too hard for me to part with it when the hazelnuts ran $10 for a pound.

The kids are well. Just had a discussion with Natty about prayer. She has something that she wants to pray for and wanted to know a few things. We had a pretty good discussion on it and talked about different answers to our prayers and being willing to accept the answer received from the Lord. She is a sharp girl and I am grateful for her faith in prayer and in her Heavenly Father.

Grease

You know Olivia Newton John is one hot babe. Well, truthfully, I never saw Grease but I did see Xanadu and wow, to young 5 year old boy she was something amazing. I was on a Xanadu kick a few years back - didn't watch the movie but I did pick up the CD or maybe Laura gave it to me as a gift. Not sure now. Regardless, it is in my CD collection. Crap, I write a blog and I have a CD collection still, wow, I am old school. I should simply maintain my life history on FaceBook and Twitter and chill with my music collection on my IPod. I am sooo lame. I am certainly on FaceBook but I probably don't use it the hip way. I am too private I guess, I like to send emails and keep my communication private. I do make comments and update my status occassionally so you know, I'm hip, I'm cool. I was certainly one of the slowest ones in the fam to take that leap and held on to the idea that the Fontano Family Blog was a much better way of keeping up with all in the fam. I do miss the wonderful posts shared on that blog and the good times we had there.

Right, so here I am in a tell all about my crush on Olivia Newton John when I was 5, forgot to mention that I "borrowed" a little money from the folks, walked down to KMart in Carson City and bought the Xanadu Soundtrack when I was, that's right, 5. Yeah, the parents were a tad confused at how that happened. I wonder what was going on in the cashier's head when I came through the line? Fun.

Well, this post has absolutely nothing to do with sweet Olivia or the movie Grease. It certainly has nothing to do with Xanadu except for my little rant that you apparently just read through. No, the Grease referred to in this post has everything to do with what was left on the walls of a building that served as a bakery for many years in Cedar City. Let me just say that it is seriously nasty. I kind of found that everything in the building that I have touched had some layer of grease on it but I had no idea how nasty the walls actually were.

I woke up this morning without nausea - how sweet is that? I can't tell you how happy I have been today because of that. Anyway, I went on a mission to degrease the place and let me tell you, this is not a small job. I'm about ready to bring in my pressure washer and my wet/dry vac and just go to town. Since the walls were not bad enough I cleaned a little patch of the ceiling and now have an entire ceiling to clean. It is just thick and nasty. Well, it is part of what needs to be done and I am actually enjoying it despite the fact that it is a nasty and dirty job. I love to see the results of a good cleaning. It is often amazing what you find underneath the grease. Tomorrow will be another full day of degreasing. I've got to get this place ready for walls to be going up in the next few days so our work is cut out for us. Exciting times.

Personal parables. Our lives are filled with them. As I was writing this little bit about the grease I realized that this is a personal parable for me. We just had conference and there was excellent instruction given. That instruction is like a strong degreaser and I need to make sure it is applied to the right walls within myself as there is certainly some grease that needs to be removed.

Nausea

I don't think there is anything quite as pleasant in this world as having constant nausea. Isn't it the most wonderful thing? The next time a question comes up in Would You Rather that has anything to do with nausea I will be going with the other choice. We're going on 3 solid days. I don't mean to sound like a wussy or anything, would just like to get beyond it and the sheer exhaustion that I have been having. Jack and I both got sick on Saturday night and he is back in the swing of things while I am lingering in the hell of nauseating exhaustion. The Chinese have a lot of hells.

Because my appetite has been null and void I have had to force myself to eat a few things. I hate that feeling. I was so excited to make my sugar free nutella on Sunday but then when Sunday arrived I wanted nothing to do with it and still feel that way. How sad. I did manage to have some soup tonight. Santa Fe Style Chicken was the closest thing I had to chicken noodle and that is what I rolled with. I may regret that later but it was good. I was relieved at that. I have had a few glasses of Gatorade tonight as well. I don't drink Gatorade because of the sugar but I need some of it's goodness right now so it is my medicine. Besides, I have a giant jug of it in the fridge and the boys are done with it. Natty is still holding on strong and I do hope this round of illness passes her by.

Anyhow, I was in somewhat of a miserable state as I was cleaning the kitchen tonight really not wanting to do it but the sight of a dirty kitchen makes me nauseous so I figured it best to try and remain on top of it. That is when I figured nausea would be the topic for tonight's post. It is such a moving topic.

As I pondered on the subject I was reminded of being home from my mission for about a year and dating a girl in the University Ward in Las Vegas. Her name was Carrie and she was from a small town in the middle of Nevada. We had a lot of fun together, went to the dances regularly, played extreme ping pong, served in the LDSSA together. It was good. Then came the fateful day when she told me that she felt nauseous whenever she was around me. I didn't really know how to take that. I figured it meant she didn't really like me and so when the next dance came up I didn't call her and ask her to go. I asked her later why she didn't go and she said it was because I didn't ask her. Here in is my trouble with women. When a woman tells me that I make her nauseous that automatically translates to stay the heck away from me. Maybe I should have asked for more clarification on the matter because I am thinking now that there were probably multiple interpretations of her comment and I may have simply bailed because I picked the wrong one. I have to say it was a little weird that she wanted me to meet her parents after our nauseating conversation. Oh to be young again.

Well, here's to tomorrow and the hope I have for a much calmer feeling in my stomach. And remember when someone asks you if you would rather spend a year with a constant feeling of nausea or spend a week eating nothing but apple, celery and mayonnaise salad - take the salad and be done with it and you all know how much I love celery - sorry, too much, I just vomited.

Oh Bugler

Currently experiencing the Full Body Chill. I am not the biggest fan of being sick. I kind of wouldn't mind if you could simply get sick, puke once and be done - back to 100%. Puking would become a much more popular thing in my life. As it is my boys have puked multiple times and I have not puked at all. It hasn't worked for any of us though whatever it was has run its course with Andy for which I am grateful. He was back at school today and had a great time. He has a bunch of energy and is catching up for some down time. Jack and I are in the middle of the ill feelings. Not so fun. I went in and did some work for a few hours today, Jack hung with me for a bit and then went to hang out with Grandma at the LBH. That was a short stay and Grandma ended up taking Jack to her house where he apparently chatted her ear off. Even put her to sleep at one point with all of his chatter, don't worry, he woke her up. No slacking on the job Grandma. Glad they had a good time together.

When we first arrived at the LBH Jack was talking about bugles. He is really into bugles and horns right now primarily because Natty is joining the band at the middle school and has been debating between the clarinet and the flute. Jack is thinking about the saxophone, the trombone, the drums (I like that) and then there is the bugle. Is the bugle even part of the band? Funny. Anyway, he decided he would point out that Grandma had two bugles in the shop. I think he caught both Grandma and I by surprise but sure enough they were there, sitting together on the mantle. So he asked Grandma to get him one and then he played us a couple of Jack tunes. A little rough but that is to be expected for his first time. Here are a couple of picks. Sadly I missed the shot with his cheeks fully inflated.




The old oven hood from the Ron and Chris bakery is no longer. I got the last piece down today and I didn't even need to swear. No, really. I was close. I remember Elder Adamson back when I was the Ward Mission Leader in Highlands Ward. He was perhaps one of my all time favorite missionaries. Anyway, we get on this conversation about tasks that don't go quite right and become frustrating. You know maybe a less than appropriate word comes out because that usually does the trick - it's like rust buster or something. Anyhow, he goes on to share that his dad often had these moments that escalated to this extreme and sudden burst of energy that usually did the trick... or completely destroyed something. He called it retard strength. I am sure that this offends someone and I don't mean to offend. The fact is this strength comes from nowhere and it is just amazing, believe me I can relate, and he called it retard strength because when working with mentally handicapped people you learn real fast that they have this incredible strength and when they are determined to do something or not do something it kicks in, this situation becomes helpless. Anyway, we had a great laugh over that because as I mentioned, I can completely identify moments when I experience said strength.

I had two unpleasant moments today. First came when I was removing an old black pipe from the oven area. With the last turn and release of the pipe came a sudden gush of nasty black water. It was thick and chalky water - if that is possible. Anyhow, it got my face, in my ear, all over my shirt, arms and hands. I couldn't clean it for anything - wiped it down as best I could with paper towels. Nastiness. A few minutes later I was turning the wrench on another pipe and my wrench slipped off. I was on a ladder and the sudden slip shot my balance backward and I was on my way down. Directly behind me was the water heater and that was going to be very painful. I threw my left arm up and caught hold of the gigantic black gas pipe that was hanging from the ceiling. I caught the ladder with my feet and kept it balanced then managed to pull my way back up. Impressive right? Like my buddy Jack Burton says, "It's all in the reflexes". Just very grateful those reflexes kicked in or I would be hurtin right now for a few additional reasons.

Natalie gave a great lesson for Family Home Evening tonight. She loves the Friend magazine and pulled out an article she loved from an older issue. It dealt with the resurrection and the love of the savior for each of us using a story of a little girl whose baby brother dies shortly after birth. I listened to her read the story and then she shared her thoughts and her testimony. It was great. It means so much as a parent to see your children grasp the gospel. She then went on to make fun of me because she saw my eyes get a little watery and she saw my sad face... she loves to make fun of me for that. Anyhow, grateful for the great lesson and the great daughter.

Signs

I am not going to get into a big discussion here on the signs of the times. No, my title here is in reference to the movie Signs with Mel Gibson and Jaquin Phoenix. Swing away Merril, swing away.

Jack was camping out in the living room last night. In so doing he put down every pillow from the couch plus his two pillows from his bed. He had Mr. Fluffy (his blanket)over him and then I had to lay down two additional blankets to cover all the floor space along the row of pillows. These were for some of his imaginary camping buddies. Somethings I just roll with when it comes to the kids and this was one of them. We'll just say Jack was covered last night.

I was having a rough night. I think I mentioned that in my post from yesterday. I was feeling something not so pleasant last night. Regardless, I went to bed and then began dreaming about puking. Isn't that pleasant. I had Andy in bed with me and had a bowl for his use. At some point he hit that bowl and it flew off the bed and crashed into the dresser. It sounded like a big gong in my room. Awesome. I fell back to sleep without much of a problem. Then I heard Jack cough and could here him heading my way, fast. He said he threw up. Of course he did. Well, I got him in the bathroom and wow, he still had a ton in him. Fortunately it all went into the toilet. A few minutes later I had him in the shower. It was 4 AM. I went out and checked on just how bad it was. You remember the blankets? Well, every one of them had puke spray on it. Mr. Fluffy was completely covered while the other two had their fair share. Sweet.

As I gathered everything up I thought about the movie Signs. I had to chuckle. I put down the 3 blankets thinking well, sweet, just three things for me to fold up later. I had no idea they were going to protect the carpet. Puke away Jackyboy, Puke away. Oh'well, I thought it was pretty funny. Perhaps it helped to keep me calm at 4 AM. I was also not feeling well and that simple thought gave me a little boost.

Today I didn't manage a repeat of Hootenanny's nor did I start any other traditions that included making my own nutella. No, traditions were on hold. I was down and not well. Jack was much more energetic this morning and actually did well most of the day. He asked for a blessing and I was humbled by his faith. Grandpa came by to drop off dinner so i invited him to participate. For me it was awesome to have Jack tell me he wanted a priesthood blessing. Grateful for his faith.

Conference Tradition

Conference weekend are a couple of my favorite weekends every year. It is nice to simply sit back and enjoy the messages from the Prophet and leaders of the church. There are some other things that I like about it and that includes little traditions that we do.

Every conference I like to make Hootinanny or German Pancakes. I did so today during the first session. I didn't have a recipe handy so simply googled it and low and behold, there were plenty to chose from. I have never heard these referred to as Volcano Pancakes until today in my search. It is a fitting name for these though I will always refer to them as Hootinanny Pancakes. I can still remember Sister Kimball introducing us to them back when we lived on Glider Lane in Sandy. Sooo good. If you've never had them, I recommend them. I like powdered sugar with mine - today I used my splenda powdered sugar, perfect. Here is a picture of what they look like. Seriously delicious. I think I may make them again tomorrow.



Natty seemed to think this was her first time having Hootinanny Pancakes. I had to explain that I make these almost every conference weekend so though she doesn't remember them, she has had them before. She loved them today as did Jack. Andy, well, he didn't have any. Still not 100%.

I did get Andy drinking gatorade. He had a few glasses today. He would only have a couple of sips at a time so it took awhile to get through one glass. That is okay though. My goal was to get him to eat something today. After suggesting a few items we settled on popcorn. He asked for more after the first bowl. I was happy to help. He just laid on the floor and ate popcorn.



All seemed well until it was time for us to go to grandmas house while grandpa and I went over to conference. Right when it was time to go Andy threw up all over the kitchen floor. It didn't end there, he blew out the backside as well. It kind of took the wind out of my sails. Back to the shower, back to washing out clothes, back to the laundry. I am pretty tired right now and I am not sure if I am coming down with something or not. Hoping not. I don't really have time to be sick and it makes me nervous that this sickness Andy has is not related to the vaccines and I can expect Natty and Jack to get it as well. I don't need that. Oh well. If it happens it happens and we will handle it. What other choice is there?

I am looking to start a new conference tradition tomorrow. I picked up some hazel nuts tonight and am going to make my homemade nutella. I am going with the sugarfree version tomorrow. There was only one bag of hazel nuts in the entire store - dissappointing. I wanted two so I could knock out three jars. Not happening. I picked up some almonds to do almond butter again. We'll see how it goes... if well, we may bring it on board as an official conference tradition. It's still up for debate.

The last tradition that I have been able to enjoy the last two priesthood sessions has been going with dad and the brothers - the local brothers anyway. I didn't get to sit with them tonight because my seat got taken due to my being tardy after clean up duty with Andy. That is okay, we gathered for a few minutes in the chapel after the session. It was good.

In Elder Oaks talk in the afternoon session and then again in President Monson's talk in priesthood session, the topic of marriage was discussed with strong counsel aimed at single brothers that are not acting in this regard. Well, I was previously married so I don't know that I really shirked that duty but make no mistake, I am not trying to excuse myself. I am working on this. It takes time as there has needed to be some healing and this takes time. President Monson also had some strong comments relative to divorce. I still struggle with the fact that I am divorced and the feelings of failure in my eternal marriage. I don't know what more I could have done though. I wasn't wracked with guilt during his talk. I think that there is a certain amount of peace that I have now knowing that I gave everything I had to the relationship. One of the things that he spoke about included complete commitment to your spouse. I would submit that I believe that with all of my heart. When it does not exist it is like a cancer exists in the relationship. It was the most painful time of my life. When I talk about healing one of the things that is a major part of that is learning to open up your heart again, allowing yourself to trust another person with your feelings and not fearing rejection.

Jack and Natty have been playing Would You Rather with their Aunt Amy while I have been typing this post. Jack made up one for Amy. Would you rather eat a goat or eat a Subway sandwich? Well, no surprise there, Amy went with the Subway sandwich.

Lots of Fooling

Andy is still down and out and Natty is at her friends house this evening so at dinner tonight it was just Jack and myself. I asked Jack to say the prayer over the food and he did an excellent job. He opened, gave thanks, asked for a blessing on the food and then went on to enjoy a casual conversation with his Heavenly Father. "It is the month of April and today is April fools day. I've done lots of fooling today..." and after that he went on to close. I love the fact that Jack just knows how to talk to Heavenly Father. He says exactly what comes to his mind without reservation and just tells him about things like they were hanging out. These little things that I learn from my children are wonderful. Having a casual conversation with Heavenly Father just to tell him about something as simple as April Fools day is not something I have really done. Jack is 100% real and it is neat to watch him and learn from him.

I spent the day with little Andy again today. He has been miserable for a couple of days. All he has really wanted me to do today is cuddle him and sing to him. This is my boy that usually yells at me to stop singing. Not today. No, he asked me to sing to him. This morning I held him for a good while and sang as many hymns as I could remember and then some I didn't remember. I surely mixed a few verses together as I tried to make my way through. The good news is that Andy doesn't know any better. To him the songs I sang were perfect.

It is not easy to watch your child as they feel miserable. I watched little Andys lip curl up and he got very emotional about being sick. We got a little gatorade inside of him and most of it has stayed. Nothing else has. Hoping we are coming to the close of this and am doing my best to take care of everything. I am being summoned by the little man to come lay down with him so I am closing.

Sure do love Natty, Jack and Andy. Take note, there is no fooling in that statement.